


Westward Bridge

by InYourDreamsBirdboy



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batgirl’s trying her best to not punch Red Hood in the face, Even Robins, F/M, First Meeting, Pre New52, Summer break, a scent of onlygodknowswhat that shouts FFU ME all caps, and he also smells good, and the subsecuent do over, or how to improve a bad impression in less tan 24 hours, ‘cause beneath the hideous helmet he sounds pretty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-11-24 12:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18165299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InYourDreamsBirdboy/pseuds/InYourDreamsBirdboy
Summary: Because everything happens at night in the city that forgets or forgives nothing, or how fate has such unexpected ways to mess up with the only birds that died on the job.Stephanie Brown met the missing ‘Robin’ from the official list and odds were, he would try to kill her for a) being a former Robin, b) being a Bat or c) being herself. Whatever option suited the case given that he had tried to kill her ex a few times prior for those very same reasons along with the failed attempts to end the new dynamic duo –Chip and Dale for Steph’s record. But things seldom worked in the way they were supposed to when even Robins bumped paths, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Sunday**

Hypothetically speaking, it was supposed to be a lovely summer evening, listening to free live music at an outdoor concert in Robinson Park with the decadent high-calorie Godiva’s sundae -nestled with praline almonds over a waffle cone- that one could only dream of but the girls… they just got the later -and it wasn’t the mouthwatering junk they were promised.

“Can you believe it, Cass?!”

The quiet girl wanted to say ‘no;’ couldn’t imagine their bad star either.

If someone had told her the best ice creams were in Europe, she would have taken her sweet time to savor the heavenly treat that rolled down the throat like pure velvet when she was in Paris but… no one warned her and--

“She said, and _I’m_ quoting, ‘Thank. God!’” the usually cheerful blonde gasped in exasperation.

She wasn’t talking about ice-cream, was she? Her hands waved furiously over her head –so _Nightwing-alike_ \- while long drops of the pinkest strawberry cream ran down her wrist -as if in a race!

Cassandra thought, for a second, about licking them clean, but if they were as near as bad as her own scoop the thought could wait –could even vanish for all she cared.

“Out of the blue, Cass!” Stephanie continued voicing her surprise as the florid beads sped up in their melting contest over her milky skin.

The girl was unable to stay tranquil, to complain still, as ordinary people do. She paced, back and forth, feet heavily dragged, revealing dark patches of soil wherever she went. And just when the silent Bat thought she’d seen the ultimate outburst of the evening, Stephanie stopped dramatically in her tracks and spun towards her, whining with arms outstretched, “As if in relief!”

She was quite the view. Her golden hair pulled down and drifted weightless, dancing in in a gentle breeze that seemed to exist only for her and… dang! Cassandra had to look around to see if someone else’s moved too because her own hair was almost plastered to the neck due to the unbearable heat, and even the trees were very much still so the wind might have been a magic trick of some sort, right?

No…

Stephanie had that effect buried deep within her. Ever since they met, Cass has noticed the magic surrounding her friend. She could step in a dark room and lit it with her presence; a soft curl up of her mouth and everything was brighter, warmer.

Now more than ever, Cass understood why Tim could stare at his former lover for so long without making an attempt to break the spell. The sight was astonishing ladylike for the college girl who pegs herself as the real Bubble of the family; Steph called the blue _Powerpuff_ girl even though Cass fitted that role ‘better’ while Babs was the indisputable Blossom. Or at least that’s what Dick said one night in the common links before the topic escalated into an inflammatory argument that ended up with Batman shutting down the lines and grounding them all for the rest of the night.

“Relief…” she repeated, whispering this time, eyes shut.

Cassandra didn’t bother to answer verbally, just the faintest hum, knowing pretty well that when Stephanie was rambling, there was nothing else to do besides nodding. And… it worked. The sound surprisingly lessened Batgirl’s mood, allowing a pair of hazel eyes to flick from the glossy trail to her pert peacock eyes and back to the ice cream in a few seconds. Warning her dearest friend that she should do something about it. But she didn’t drift her attention one inch. No.

Stephanie was as hard as a rock when she was focused on something and instead of looking at the sticky stains tetanizing her skin she just crashed her cone slightly -jaw tightened- and without hesitation, throw it into the green waters of the Finger river.

_We can do that?_

It didn’t happen to the raven girl that nobody obliged them to finish those hideous ice creams. They both were free to throw them whenever they wanted. Just as Steph did ahead of her.

_Why the torture when life wasn’t that long, to begin with, to make do with a bland resembled of a true chocolate ice cream?_

But there wasn’t time to think about such vital questions as the blonde carried on her feverish speech, voice rising half an octave, forcing not only birds but dogs to retreat from the couple.

“‘Cause, damn right she looked relieved!” she shouted, breathing heavily and perhaps she has read her friend’s mind or was running out of things for some extra target practice because she grabbed Cass’ cone and sent it along with her own in a swift motion. So elegant yet brutal. Her soft appearance standing out from the contrast of her punk spirits.

“Like--like she had been all night a-awake a-and waiting for me--” then spun on her tracks with an inquisitive index pointing to the skies as she added a personal note to her rambling. “Which, by the way, I’m certain she did not because…” she trailed off, dropping her hand and shoulders in defeat as she sighed. “Since when does she--?”

Stephanie stopped again, words stumbling in their way out of her cherry plump lips, now pressed in the thinnest line Cass had ever seen on her friend with brows knitted together. “S-she just--” she stuttered, trying to make sense of her wild thoughts, fuming with each passing second she couldn’t come up with the right words; the right sentences, the-- “BOOM!” The vocal explosion surprised the expressionless girl as the blonde mimicked such sound, mouth blowing what little air she had in her lungs and then rumbled again, like a cute little girl in a tantrum. God forbid Cass shared her impression out loud after recalling Dick’s aggression again. Because Steph was Buttercup no matter how mad she got at the name…

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Still Sunday, still evening, still Robinson Park but no music.**

The odd pair strolled along the riverside in what it looked like silence for a solid minute after the blonde’s tantrum was ‘over.’

Sixty unbroken seconds that could be an impressive endeavor coming from Stephanie but, credit where credit’s due, Cass was Caesar now.

Everyone knew that emotion kept Batgirl running. It was Stephanie’s native tongue, and it would be the end of her someday in the near future but today? Well, today Cass was dealing with the gushy bat.

Surely, in some parallel universe the blonde was the balanced one with the unreadable face and the ninja aura but here was Cassandra’s turn to endure the task ahead bearing a front that could extinguish any dark thought or doubt her dearest friend was dragging alone. And she did it great, by the way. While mirroring her expressions could be the standard response from an empathetic person, Cass showed nothing, not the slightest hint of surprise, nor the least rush to bring the light back. She stood there, by her side, watching and walking; doing wonders the farther they were from any noise above the Aparo Expressway; strolling along the dirty waters of the Finger river where stinging bugs flew over the surface in a lovely dance, almost scratching the surface and engulfing Stephanie’s attention.

_Good._

Sometimes, people experience a range of emotions that can be controlled by sound interact to produce an overwhelming sense of mental tranquility. With Steph, water brought her to a calmer state in which she could catch a break from the fast-paced rhythm of her life, and occasionally even slowed down her brainwaves -occasionally.

This time, the smell of the river -fuel tainted waters and rotting moss included- was similar to passing by the “fish market” of Escabedo’s cartel or visiting an unflushed toilet. It was pretty disgusting, nearly as much as the ice-creams.

Anyhow, they’d walked in the opposite direction from the ‘meeting point’ and towards the north district. And whether or not both girls were on a mission, Stephanie’s dereliction of duty was new, and Cass’ first goal was to protect her friend foremost; if they had to stray from the assigned area...  _So be it._

Night and Day were standing beside the green stream because Bruce said that it could activate a default mode network that allowed the brain to wander, free of stimulation -or that’s what Cass learned from him. It could even deprive her friend of her senses altogether if all traffic had been stopped at once but—ZOOOSH ZOOOSH ZOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The GCPD closed the highway to regular traffic to be prepared for contingencies during the open-air concert but trains… The high whistled of a train, and its steadily increasing chugging sound filled the park and broke the peace.  _Dang!_ Trains had access to the Miller Harbor and Port Adams, running across the river to east and west every so often that none of them could escape it, and yeah, even though water helped, the noise combined with the smell wasn’t aiding at all.

Cass looked at her friend with concern; the kind of concern that no one else knew from her but only Stephanie who approached the railing with that blank stare of hers that only meant trouble and confessed: “Everything happened on Thursday.”

Steph’s words set the prelude of the most shocking 'story' ever told in Gotham City, and Cassandra was itching to know every detail. Eyes wide opened and glued to her. “I was hovering the night,” she jumped over the rail, sitting there with her back to the river. “The flagpole behind my Kevlar butt was cold at the touch,” the blonde knocked the wood with her knuckles, and the chopped paint flew away, leaving traces and sprinkles where her hands rested.

“It could’ve bend if I’d weighed as much as Robin care to imply, but it didn’t! Guess I ain’t  _fatgirl_  after all…” she recalled and a lull too long to be ignored weight on her.

Ever since Damian spat such untoward nickname, Stephanie has been self-conscious. It didn’t matter that she was almost over 115 and fitted perfectly into the bantamweight class; what mattered was that the little devil called her fat while everyone tested her limits and he went too far too soon.

Cassandra noted to herself a few creative punishments to his affront when the blonde looked up, “The skies were plain purple here and there, even as the sun had part four hours ago.” blue eyes still focus up in the air, squinting for the sky’s real color to give up with a soft mumbling, “ _Pollution and stuff._ ”

Steph’s voice grew thin within seconds.  _What happened to you?_ Cass was more and more curious the longer her nosy friend became quiet and joined her in the railing.

The sky sure was fancy for such hours, and instead of portraying the sunset festival of shades, it merged the impossible palette with greys and red, adding texture through the contrails and jet streams of planes across its surface. It was true; the condensation trails from aircraft didn’t reflect any sunlight but do prevent heat from escaping the Earth, and it was closer to the water that people could feel it more.

“Don’t waste your time trying to explain Gothamites why should they care to get a natural pitch-black night from time to time.  _Uh-uh_. I’ve ran exhausted after two years of trying and let me tell you something: it  _is_  useless.”

Another truth, Cassandra hadn’t thought that hard about their poisoning skies; didn’t care either about it until Steph pointed it out because they looked astonishing at night, but her friend had a point. After a few patrols, her lungs burned, and her mouth tasted funny -hot dog water style. She was right, but not only Gothamites were dummies, but the whole World was also killing the atmosphere, and not even Batman could stop them.

“I-- I wonder how’s Bruce dealing with it...? How could he? He’d been on the job for more than he would admit publicly, right? And still, nothing has changed…” there she was, the unstoppable mind hurling questions as bullets like in a shooting gallery from the funfair. She could win all the stuffed animals from the post and give them to the orphans if she wanted. Her aim was one of her many virtues and— _dang_ , she's been drifted away from the narrative again!

“Anyway,” Steph continued, “I was there, sitting, staring. A million stars could have been watching me, and I wouldn’t have known for the lights of the new Penguin’s club bathed me like the moonbeam painted the waters on Dixon docks in white –so braid-to-be- _ish_.” Cass closed her eyes, trying to visualize her and the landscape. The picture showed up in her head so quickly that she smiled at her achievement. “I ogled down to my gauntlets turning into the brightest pink I’d ever seen,” she added, grabbing her friend's arm tightly, and nuzzled her nose against her dark hair mumbling, “they looked so cool, Cass, I’ll show you next time, I promise.”

Cassandra nodded, widening her smile as they asserted the oath. For a moment, she even forgot about the story beyond the light effects when Stephanie rested her head over Cass' shoulder and sighed. “Then someone or something  _-I wasn’t sure at the time-_  had to broke that magical moment running in front of the neons and casting a long shadow over my momentarily-glowing-pink-suit aaaand—" she dragged the conjunction dramatically, jumping off the rail and swirling around like a little girl, playing with the hem of her blue dress until Cass sighed.

 _“Yes,_ Cass. I had to focus on the real action happening in front of me. A -how should I describe it without spoiling it all…?” she took a moment to think about a comparison worth mentioning and brought an index to her chin, while her lovely dress moved in soft waves -as in perpetual motion within the zero breeze.  _Is she a witch?_ The silent girl couldn't tell.

“Have you seen Kill Bill?” Steph asked, ignoring her effect on Cassandra, but her question came out more like an answer as she continued the next second, “Of course, you don’t! We need to watch it. Together. Write that down somewhere and make time for me, it’s quite long and has a second part. Totally worth it. Don’t listen to Tim; he’s such a purist regarding quality movies--Where was I? ”

"Kill Bill," Cass settled, growing eager the longer her friend beat about the bush.

"Kill Bill, duh! Well, a bunch of suited men flew from a spot, and there was this guy with a bucket for a helmet who took care of aaaall of them, sending crooks anywhere but a safe place.  _And, God, was he fast._ He delivered punches and kicks faster than-- I dunno, Bruce Lee? Each one powerful and fluid while the poor wretches cried in agony." Again, her snappy speech and frantic words made the brunette queasy, but the point of her discourse was clear, and she summarized it shortly after, "He was a natural, Cass. Just like you, but fiercer and relentless and--”

“Jason” the silent girl spoke the name of the wayward son, the one who matched Steph’s depiction of the beginning of her end and it took the blonde by surprise, nodding like a bystander when she was the one telling the story and not the audience.

“Yes, and he was—wait a sec, how do you--? Were you--? Did I--? Fuck!”

“Yes.” Cass nodded and couldn't help her friend by drawing a sly grin on her face.


End file.
